


Who Sometimes is a Compass

by jacquelee



Series: Harry Potter AU [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: gameofcards, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 13:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4707296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minerva McGonagall's first few weeks as a new student at Hogwarts are awful. The only thing that keeps her from complete despair is her little secret. Who sometimes is a compass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Sometimes is a Compass

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [game of cards](gameofcards.livejournal.com) for a picture prompt of a compass.

"Leave her alone!" 

Minerva was still huddled over her books that the two Slytherins had thrown to the ground, fearing the worst, when she heard that voice. Her heart jumped a little, relieved that maybe, finally, there was help. 

The two bullies took one look at the person rapidly advancing towards the scene - Minerva assumed it was one of the teachers, even though most of the time the teachers didn't care much about the bullying that went on all the time in the hallways - and ran away, leaving Minerva to scramble her books and belongings. This was the umpteenth time she had been attacked outside of a classroom. 

She was small, had no friends so far and mostly walked alone to and from classes, after the others were gone, because she liked staying late to correct and perfect her notes, since she didn't like to do it in the crowded common room later and she hadn't yet been able to find the courage of trying to go into an empty class room to study in the evenings. 

Hogwarts had turned out to be nothing like she had hoped it would be. She had been sorted into Gryffindor for once, though she had always thought it would be Ravenclaw, her liking studying so much and not really thinking of herself as brave at all. But then, the sorting hat knew best, right? At least that was what her parents always said. 

That she would understand things later. That it was the most important to fit in, to do what the teachers said, to follow the rules. She tried to do that and to also find friends, but it was hard. Everyone seemed to think she wasn't a 'true Gryffindor' because she hated fighting, she hated conflict and she apparently didn't 'stand up for herself' enough because she didn't know how to fight against bullies that threw down her books, hid her belongings and shot her with leg binding and body binding curses every other day. 

These last few weeks had been some of the most miserable in her life. Her parents were no help, just dismissing her as being 'dramatic' and telling her to just wait it out, saying that she was a Gryffindor for a reason, that she just needed to find her inner bravery. She was too scared to go to the teachers, knowing that they would probably say the same thing. 

The only thing that had saved her from being completely miserable was what she was looking for desperately right now. Well, that she even had it with her had been thanks to the transfiguration teacher, Professor Dumbledore. He seemed to think that she had enormous talent for this subject and encouraged her to pursue it far beyond what the other first years had been doing in these first few weeks of school. 

The ability to transform an object into something else truly fascinated her. Especially when it was a workable thing or an animal being transformed into another thing and then back into a workable thing or into a still living, still very much okay animal. Animals seemingly liked it quite a lot to be transformed into objects. There was even the possibility of being an animal herself, which to her seemed like her best dream come true. 

But right now, she was not dreaming at all, on the contrary, she was working up to a panic while she still searched the stone floor. Where was it? Where? 

"Here. That's yours, isn't it? It rolled over there." 

Her saviour, not a teacher but an older girl, who had scared away the bullies and who she had ignored because it had been more important to her in that moment to find it, was crouching next to her and handed her exactly what she was looking for. Her compass. Well, not just a compass, but that was her secret. 

"I'm sure she's okay." 

Now Minerva finally looked up and really looked at the girl, who was far older than her, at least in her fifth or sixth year. She had dark skin, very short blue hair and now smiled encouragingly. 

And then it sank in that she hadn't said 'it', no, she had said 'her'. Completely surprised, Minerva didn't even think of trying to conceal her secret anymore. 

"How did you know?"

"I'm a witch! Surprise!" 

Minerva laughed. And she was a little confused at how much the sound coming out of her own mouth surprised her. She hadn't really, genuinely laughed for quite a while, definitely since before coming to Hogwarts. 

The girl laughed too and then took out her wand and gestured towards the compass. 

"May I?" 

Thinking that the older student probably knew the spell even better than her, especially seeing that she had somehow known that the compass wasn't just a compass, Minerva nodded. 

The girl looked up and down the hallway, checking if there was no one there – obviously, since using magic in the hallways was forbidden, not that that ever stopped the bullies – and then pointed her wand at the compass, speaking the words of the spell. 

Immediately the compass turned back into what it actually was: Furry, a little black and white kitten, the only companion Minerva had in this school. The one friend she had, that meant so much to her that being alone in classes without her seemed unbearable. 

At first, she had tried to sneak her into classes in her bag or in her cloak but that hadn't worked, even though Furry had been the quietest kitty in the world, knowing what was at stake. The teachers still discovered her and punished Minerva. 

So, when she had mastered the transfiguration spell for turning a needle into a match surprisingly quickly and had been given far more advanced spells to train on, she had considered trying it out on Furry who seemed eager to try it out too, having been very interested in Minerva turning various objects into rats and back into objects.

First she had been a little worried about the kitten's wellbeing as a compass, but since all the animals always seemed very happy to be objects and Furry seemed really eager to try it, she did it. And then, after having tried it a few times and Furry seemingly being completely fine with it, actually really liking being a compass since she very much seemed to understand that this was the one way she could go with Minerva, jumping into her bag waiting to be transformed before classes, she stopped worrying and now she had the comfort of her companion being with her at all times. 

Because of the bullies, she had been worried that Furry had gotten lost or hurt. But the kitten seemed completely fine, sniffing the other girl's hand a little bit and giving out a little approving meow while rubbing her head on the girl's hand, only to jump into Minerva's lap immediately after that, curl up and promptly fall asleep. 

Both girls laughed again. 

"Well, maybe you should go up, first year classes are over for today, right?" 

Minerva nodded and got up, carefully holding a still sleeping Furry in her arm. 

The other girl got up too and now Minerva got the first good look of her robes. 

"You're a Slytherin!" 

She was shocked. Her mind raced. Why had the girl helped her? She had to know that her bullies had been Slytherins too. Why did she transform Furry back? Did she plan on blackmailing her? Threatening to tell the teachers of her secret? 

Before she could completely panic, the girl let out a laugh. 

"So what?" 

She still smiled, seemingly completely unfettered by the gravity of the situation. 

"So why did you help me?" 

"Because you needed help? I don't think anyone needs to be a Gryffindor to help someone in need. I actually didn't see any Gryffindors helping you, did you?" 

Minerva could just stare, she didn't know what to say. No, fellow Gryffindors had never helped her, but Slytherins so far had never done anything but bully her. 

"Tell you what. You are right. I am not going to say that those bullies don't represent the whole of Slytherin, because they very well do and we both know that. But I promise you, I don't wish you any harm. I'm not going to tell anyone about the kitty. And I'm going to leave you alone when that is what you want." 

Still completely in shock about this encounter, Minerva couldn't even think of how to react. After a few moments of silence, the other girl smiled a little and turned to leave. After she had already made the first steps down the hallway, Minerva suddenly realized something. 

"I don't even know your name." 

She didn't even say it very loudly, but the other girl turned around and smiled again. 

"I'm Ingrid. Ingrid Rosen" 

Minerva smiled too even though it was still a little hesitant. 

"I'm Minerva McGonagall. And this is Furry."

"Who sometimes is a compass." 

Now Minerva laughed again. Really, she had laughed more in the last few minutes than in the last few weeks, maybe even months. 

"Yes, who sometimes is a compass."


End file.
